In Memoriam

The WVU Department of Physics and Astronomy mourns and honors the lives of individuals who have contributed to our success.

Professor Emeritus Atam P. Arya, 67, of Morgantown, died July 28, 2001, at Ruby Memorial Hospital of heart disease. He was born in June 2, 1934, in Punjab, India. During the partition of India, his family resettled in New Delhi. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from Birla College, India. He came to the United States as a graduate student in 1957 and received a Ph.D. in physics from Pennsylvania State University at State College, Pa., in 1960. He began his teaching career at the physics department of West Virginia University in 1964. His research was in nuclear spectroscopy. He published more than 25 papers and seven textbooks in both English and Japanese, including "Elementary Modern Physics" and "Introductory College Physics." He was a member of the American Physical Society, American Association of Physics Teachers, Sigma Xi and Sigma Pi Sigma. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1972. He enjoyed gardening, traveling and Indian culture.

Bernard (Barry) R. Cooper, Claude W. Benedum professor emeritus at West Virginia University, passed away on June 10, 2013 in Morgantown, West Virginia. A fellow of the American Physical Society, Barry was a theoretical condensed matter physicist best known for his contributions to the fundamental understanding of the magnetic and electronic properties of transition, rare earth, and actinide metals. He also contributed to early efforts to accurately calculate and predict the properties of materials using first-principles methods. Read his full obituary from Physics Today. 

Martin Vincent Ferer, Ph.D., 69, of Morgantown, passed away Monday, June 9, 2014 at Ruby Memorial Hospital of Morgantown. He was born October 31, 1944 in Chicago, a son of the late Martin and Mary Aloise Ferer. Marty enjoyed a long and successful career as a Professor of Physics at West Virginia University. He earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Detroit in 1966 and his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1972. He joined the faculty at WVU in 1971 and stayed until his retirement in 2010. His diverse research interests encompassed phase transitions and critical phenomena, nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory, fractal growth at fluid interfaces and in geologic fracturing, flow in porous media, and percolation theory. Much of this work was performed in collaboration with scientists at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Morgantown, WV; he took two sabbaticals to focus on his work at NETL. He published 65 scientific articles which have been cited over 1150 times. Marty’s career took him to conferences throughout this country and Europe. In 2008, he traveled to the remote island of Svalbard, Norway, above the Artic Circle to attend a conference on hydrology in the Artic climate. He forged a particularly close collaboration with students in Germany and Norway. 

For almost 20 years, Marty was the only undergraduate adviser in the department, so every student during that time got to know him and his genuine concern for his students and his willingness to help them succeed. He worked tirelessly to mold course schedules to the individual needs of the students and ensure they were prepared for their professional careers. He also served as the interim Chairman of the Department in the 1985-86 and 1986-87 school years, during which time he oversaw a period of rapid growth in the department, hiring three faculty members. 

Marty was always a caring and friendly colleague, inviting many new faculty members to his house and visiting them in their homes to help them acclimate to the area and providing wise counsel to the department chairs who followed him in that role. Marty will be sorely missed by his colleagues and students. At the end of his life, Marty fought a heroic battle with cancer. That he survived for over four years since his original diagnosis was largely due to his own courage and the extraordinary care and research at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Leonardo Golubovic, 65, formerly of Morgantown, passed away in Leesburg, Va., on June 25, 2022. Leonardo Golubovic was born on Jan. 24, 1957, to Rajko and Vera Golubovic in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, now known as the country of Serbia. Leo spent his early years in Novi Sad, later moving to Belgrade with his family before attending the University of Belgrade. He received his Bachelor of Engineering in electrical engineering in 1980. After his undergraduate studies, he spent two years in the Yugoslavian Armed Forces and then received his Ph.D. in 1987. Leo moved to the United States in 1987 where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania (1987-1989), University of California, Los Angeles (1989-1991) and California Institute of Technology (1991-1992) before joining West Virginia University in 1992. He became a tenured professor of physics at West Virginia University and extended his teaching and his studies as a visiting scholar at Harvard University (1999-2000), Ludwig Maximilian University (2002) and Louisiana State University (2015). He authored more than 70 publications involving 15 articles in the prestigious Physical Review Letters and a book in statistical physics. He was awarded the Marko Jaric Prize for Outstanding Scientific Achievements in Physics in 2001. In 2005, he received the honor of being named Fellow of the American Physical Society for his results in soft matter physics. He retired in fall of 2021 and gained the status of Emeritus.

Oleg Dmitrovich Jefimenko, 87, passed away in Morgantown, WV, on May 14, 2009. Jefimenko was born on October 14, 1922 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He received his B.A. degree at Lewis and Clark College in 1952, his M.A. degree at the University of Oregon in 1954, and his Ph.D. at the University of Oregon in 1956. Jefimenko worked for the development of the theory of electromagnetic retardation and relativity. In 1956, he was awarded the Sigma Xi Prize. In 1971 and 1973, he won awards in the AAPT Apparatus Competition. Jefimenko constructed and operated electrostatic generators run by atmospheric electricity. Today, the Oleg D. Jefimenko Professorship in Physics honors his memory.

John E. Littleton died on Wednesday the 20th of October, 2010. John E. (Jack) Littleton was born on July 28, 1943, and grew up in Ballston Spa, New York. At age 12, he moved with his family to Bolivar, West Virginia, and graduated from Harpers Ferry High School in 1961. Jack was a standout athlete in high school and lettered in football, baseball, and basketball. He was the first person to graduate from a high school in West Virginia to become a professor of physics at West Virginia University (WVU). He received a B.Sc. degree in engineering physics from Cornell University in 1965 and entered the graduate program in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester that fall. Just as he was beginning his doctoral research in theoretical astrophysics, he was involved in a fatal car accident, which killed his mother and his first wife, Joan. Jack himself was seriously injured and spent considerable time in the hospital. When he was released, he spent a year recuperating at his in-laws’ home. It is a testimony to Jack’s grit and determination that he was subsequently able to resume his graduate studies, and he received his doctorate in 1972 for a thesis entitled “A Quantum Mechanical Treatment of Longitudinal Plasma Waves in Stellar Plasmas” under the supervision of Hugh M. Van Horn and H. Lawrence Helfer.

Jack never sought the limelight. He truly believed in making science accessible to the public. Colleagues remember him staying up all night once during the Mars closest approach to keep the observatory open for the hundreds of locals who wanted to get a glimpse of Mars that night.  J ack also helped to recruit additional astronomers to the faculty, and his tireless devotion to astronomy played a key role in the expansion of astronomy at WVU and subsequent renaming of the department as the Department of Physics and Astronomy.  Upon the department’s move to White Hall in 2012, the rooftop telescope was dedicated to Jack and a library which houses his many books acquired over the years is named after him.

Jack began undergoing treatment for cancer in 2002, but he continued to work until retiring as professor emeritus in 2008. Jack always put his students first. He scheduled his cancer surgeries around his exam schedules and breaks to minimize the impact on his students, and he always had a positive attitude throughout his treatment. At the end of his life, he was under hospice care for about a month before dying at home in Morgantown, West Virginia, in October of 2010. Read his full obituary from the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society.

Arthur S. Pavlovic, 98, of Morgantown passed away peacefully on February 22, 2024. He was born on December 2, 1925 in Bedford, Ohio, the son of the late Bohumil and Anastasia (Javorsky) Pavlovic. His parents were of Czech descent and Czech was his first language. Art was a veteran of the United States Navy, where he served as a one year contractual officer assigned to the PCE 842 in Apra Harbor on the island of Guam. Upon arrival at home, Art earned his M.S. degree in Physics in 1949 and his Ph.D. degree from Penn State University in 1956. After three years working with the Electro Metallurgical Company (later renamed Union Carbide Metals), he accepted an assistant professorship with the WVU Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Art enjoyed teaching and doing physical research. He set himself, with the aid of two graduate students, to create a laboratory for the preparation of materials and the measurement of the physical and chemical properties of new solid materials. This required funds which were nonexistent in the department but Art had prepared himself before he joined WVU by writing three proposals of the possible projects that he would like to pursue. These were submitted to various federal agencies, and two were funded. In 1967, Art requested to take a Sabbatical Leave of one year to work in Grenoble, France at the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research). Here, he learned some new techniques and the preparation of rare earth metals and alloys.

Upon return from France, he was offered the position of Chairman of the Department of Physics. Art served as chairman of the WVU Physics Department during two different time periods: 1968 to 1975 and 1985 to 1990. The work went so well at WVU that Art remained at the University until he retired in 1990. He took two additional sabbaticals, one in 1975 and another in 1985. He continued to do research in the Department until 2000 and kept an emeritus faculty office in Hodges Hall for many years.

Gregory Paul Puskar, 62, of Morgantown, WV formerly of Mt. Pleasant, PA, passed away October 23, 2018 at UPMC Montefiore Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA. He was born July 11, 1956 in Mt. Pleasant, PA a son of the late Joseph A. and Mercedes Galley Puskar. He was a member of the St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Star City, WV. 

Greg graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School and then from WVU with a BS in Physics, an MBA, and was hired immediately by the Department of Physics and Astronomy where he remained for thirty nine years and eventually became the Academic Laboratory Manager for the department. He also was the owner of Envirocheck Inc., where he did environmental testing services. In 1984, he became a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers and a life member in 2007 and served on the executive board as chairman of the section representatives and numerous committees. Greg received the Distinguished Service Citation Award in 2006 and was named a Fellow in the association in 2014. He worked passionately to promote effective, safe, and well managed physics laboratory programs and his advice and knowledge was sought by many in the organization. 

Greg was a founding member of the Mountaineer Chapter of BNI in 2004 and remained an important figurehead until his passing. In his private time, he was an avid reader, enjoyed the New York Times crossword puzzles, collected stamps, liked traveling and following sports, and always had a thirst for learning.

Carl A. Rotter, 74, passed away on January 29, 2010. Rotter began his career as a high school teacher of physics and mathematics, before pursuing his career as a researcher and educator of university students. He joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy in 1966 and remained full-time until 2002. His later years were devoted to the furthering of teaching methods for high school physics teachers, and he was involved in the development of several programs to provide better educational opportunities for students. One such program was C3P, which is working to provide a conceptual curriculum to high school students by integrating the best possible educational materials into a three level program. He was serving as associate director of the C3P Program at the time of his death.

Phillip Mark Tucker, 53, of Morgantown, passed away Thursday, August 27, 2015 at Ruby Memorial Hospital. Born on April 29, 1962 in Morgantown, he was a son of the late Benjamin Tucker Jr. and Betty Claire Tucker. Phillip first became involved in FIRST Robotics by created a LEGO League team for his daughter, Haley, and other children. Through Phil's dedication and love for working with youth, that team of five fifth graders grew into the wildly successful Mountaineer Area RoboticS (MARS) program. MARS now reached across the state of WV and into two additional countries, inspiring thousands each year. 

Phillip would spend hours working with a single student in the remotest parts of West Virginia if it meant he could inspire just one more students to get engaged in a robotics program. His dedication to the students in FIRST was legendary. Phil was a coach, a mentor, a judge, a referee, and at the high school level had a reputation for never leaving a team behind. In other words, at competitions, he would work long days and nights with teams from other parts of the country to make sure their robots could compete at an event. 

In 2015, Phillip earned the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award for his work as a FIRST coach, the top award given to a coach at a FIRST event. In the 2015 nomination, his MARS students wrote that "he has touched the lives of every MARS student. He instills values such as dedication, technical skills, and gracious professionalism. At times he works as late as 4 a.m., refusing to quit if students are still willing to learn ... He shows us that it is not winning that's important, it's the relationships we build and the remarkable people we meet. He has worked tirelessly with students that have been written off and has shown us that even the smallest leaps of faith can lead to greatness. He is Phillip Tucker, MARS mentor and coach, but more than anything, he is our hero."

Phillip was the compassionate heart of the MARS program and his legacy is hundreds of young people who learned technical skills, compassion, and the importance of making a difference in their community.